Time Telling Difficulties

Chocco

Registered User
Aug 9, 2021
215
0
I tried searching for this topic but didn't come up with anything. My OH now has difficulty telling the time and is blaming his watch. At the doc's memory test he had difficulty drawing the clock and putting the arms on 10 to 11 but at the recent test at the Memory Clinic, he drew the clock fine after awhile.
He has a dementia clock by the bed and a wall clock but still, this morning waking me, (an insomniac who doesnt get to sleep till gone 3am ) at 5.20am to ask what time it is.
He keeps waking so early and being disorientated.
I take it this is all part of the disease?
 

Canadian Joanne

Registered User
Apr 8, 2005
17,710
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70
Toronto, Canada
Yes, this is definitely part of the disease, the inability to tell time and also an inability to actually see and process what is in front of them.

My mother once stood naked in front of a full size mirror with at least 3 stone (if not more) on her 5'3" frame and announced that she had never been fat. She looked like a little Buddha.

But oddly enough, she was able to read her watch for much longer than most. I used to check her ability by saying my watch had stopped and asking her the time. She had lost so many abilities and had become incontinent but she could tell time! Usually, this ability is one that goes early.

I'm very sorry I don't have any advice for you.
 

Sarasa

Volunteer Host
Apr 13, 2018
7,145
0
Nottinghamshire
Hi @Chocco , I found with my mum that she could read her analogue clock, tell you it was 11.0'clock and that her keep ft class started at 2 0'clock and that it was at most a ten minute walk away. What she couldn't do was work out why leaving the house immediately to go to the class was a bad idea.
 

northumbrian_k

Volunteer Host
Mar 2, 2017
4,363
0
Newcastle
My wife could read the numbers on an analogue clock. She would say, for example, "ten and two" but she had lost all concept that the numbers were linked in any way. Soon after that it did not matter to her whether it was light or dark, she just didn't notice or connect visual clues. People with dementia can get into an altered rhythm of sleeping during the day and being awake at night. The 12 hour clock doesn't help as 5am ( time for tea!) then seems much like 5pm.

It makes life difficult for carers. I don't have any easy solutions but trying to get the sleep regime to match your own is worth a try.
 

Starting on a journey

Registered User
Jul 9, 2019
1,167
0
Mum complained bitterly that the paper wasn’t here on Sunday morning. I looked at the clock and told her it was 7 not 8 am! Then I left her to it whilst I had a little nap!!
 

AbbyGee

Registered User
Nov 26, 2018
740
0
Portsmouth, South Coast
We have analogue clocks and the big old Alz digital (time, date, day, year) but they mean nothing now to my OH. He'll sometimes read the numbers on the digital but is unable to relate them to actual time and will always ask me what time it is. Even then, it seems irrelevant whether it's 10 in the morning or 10 at night. He sometimes asks where his latest watch is but it makes no sense to him when he looks at it.

I'm considering slowly removing the various timepieces from around the house.

I find this so painfully sad for an ex-RN service chappie whose life was very much run by duty times and who had a full grasp on the passing of the hours by simply looking skywards and sniffing in an old Sea-Dog way. ???

Our lives now are morning / afternoon (it's light), evening (the sun's going down) and night (it's dark).

I dread the winter months.
 

Anthoula

Registered User
Apr 22, 2022
2,174
0
I have just realised that my OH is now having difficulty with numbers/time. A few times recently he has woken me just after 6 a.m. to tell me that it has gone 9 a.m. At first I thought it was due to his drowsiness on first waking, but now I am pretty sure it is because he is confusing the numbers 6 and 9. The annoying thing is he turns over and goes straight back to sleep and that is something I am unable to do. Ah well, at least I can get up and do a few tasks in peace!
 

Chocco

Registered User
Aug 9, 2021
215
0
Yes, this is definitely part of the disease, the inability to tell time and also an inability to actually see and process what is in front of them.

My mother once stood naked in front of a full size mirror with at least 3 stone (if not more) on her 5'3" frame and announced that she had never been fat. She looked like a little Buddha.

But oddly enough, she was able to read her watch for much longer than most. I used to check her ability by saying my watch had stopped and asking her the time. She had lost so many abilities and had become incontinent but she could tell time! Usually, this ability is one that goes early.

I'm very sorry I don't have any advice for you.
"an inability to see and process what is in front of them"
That's a great reminder for me @Canadian Joanne, thank you. I am still finding it hard to get that to sink in and somtimes I expect my OH to be as up to speed with things as he always was in the 46 years I have known him!
 

Jaded'n'faded

Registered User
Jan 23, 2019
5,248
0
High Peak
I remember mum flicking through a copy of People's Friend one time and happily reading out the headlines of stories, articles, etc. Obviously, I assumed she read and understood, but that wasn't the case. As she turned the pages towards the back, she came across all the small ads and read those out too. One of these was a well-placed quarter page by a firm of solicitors - the heading was Wills and LPA. I panicked when she read this one out because at the time she was absolutely paranoid about money and thought everyone was trying to steal from her, take her many houses, etc. (She had one, small property and we'd already sold it!) But she read the heading then said, 'Wills and LPA - no, I don't know them either...' Phew.

She could read figures on her clock but would interpret it as, '9 to 10' rather than quarter to 10. And she had no idea what that meant. She asked me the time one sunny afternoon when we were sitting on the green opposite her CH. I told her it was 3 o'clock but she asked if I meant 3 in the morning or 3 at night. She also became fairly nocturnal and would wander the corridors at night.

Unfortunately once the sense of time goes, it seems to be gone for good.
 

Yankeeabroad

Registered User
Oct 24, 2021
157
0
My mom used Alexa quite a bit to mask her not being able to process written numbers and words. She blamed it on macular degeneration. But my sister and I used to giggle about her asking Alexa 20 times per day what day and time it was! She retained the ability to understand verbally and follow me reading out loud long after she lost the ability to process the written word. Unfortunately now she can’t even process letters.

My dad does occasionally mix up AM/PM, but it’s normally when he has an important appointment or event. Then he rings me in a fluster — it’s one time when a 7 hour time difference works to my advantage!
 

GROCKLE

Registered User
Jul 7, 2021
131
0
75
Switzerland

Trivial but helped a little - don't use 24hr clock displays, maybe use AM/PM for older PWD​

When we first gave my sister a large white dementia clock, the person who installed it for her set it up to show the 24 hr clock. I noticed when I visited my sister this June that she didn't like to see the time like this and was much happier with it showing 6 PM rather than 18:00. My sister is 83, almost 84 and very non-technical.